


Medium Rare

by Sariau



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Hold onto your butts- this is gonna be a ride, Zack doesn't follow the laws of reality, marble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 03:23:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4861154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sariau/pseuds/Sariau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack has always been one to go against the norm. From the expectations of his hometown, to his personality as a SOLDIER, to his stubbornness in the afterlife. He wasn't about to leave behind Spike on that cliff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Medium Rare

Cloud knows there's something wrong with himself when he woke up one morning (was it morning? He couldn't see the sky beyond the plate of Midgar). He's having trouble remembering things, but doesn't bother to mention it to anyone that might care. Who would? This was Midgar, after all. The niggling thought that he can’t remember how he had gotten there is squeezed into a corner in the farthest part of his mind.

The blond gathers his things from the small hiding place he found to sleep, fingers the clear marble he couldn't remember picking up, and heads out in search of breakfast.

Or just food. He isn't picky.

He can feel the cool temperature of the marble in his gloved hand as he walks towards where he thinks he remembers a food stall was. It was the size of two of his thumbs, and oddly comforting for a useless bauble. Then he remembers he doesn’t have enough money to pay for food and turns on his heel to beat up some monsters. Maybe sell whatever they drop too.

It takes a while to knock the wee beasties out of the air and collect what might be enough drops to trade for some grub. By then, Cloud is close to just starting a fire right then and cooking a monster leg.

The rumor about a SOLDIER First’s metabolism matching their highly praised strength is definitely true.

Actually, why not save a few gil? Cloud crouches next to his most recent victim. It's a bird of some kind that he hadn’t bothered to learn the name of, but scaled larger to the point of absurdity. He cut the head clean off a minute before, and the corpse is rapidly cooling. He yanks a few feathers off to see how difficult it was going to be to de-feather the monster. He is met with more than a little resistance.

Right then, skinning it is. Cloud brandishes his knife, and sets to slicing  

He could treat the leather too to get a good hide to sell if it ended up being good quality. Only salt was needed for now so it doesn't start to rot right away. His glowing eyes search the area around him. Of course it wouldn't be that easy; he stands up from his crouch and walks around in search of rock salt. Cloud is pretty sure that Midgar was built on a pretty big salt deposit, but he can't remember where he knew that from.

The same hat and dance.

It didn't take long to find some salt, mostly because he stepped into a nearby store to ask directions. “I'm pretty sure there's loads of the stuff in Sector 7.” The guy behind the counter answers gruffly before giving him the boot for not having any intention of buying anything. The jerk.

And that’s how he ends up meeting back up with Tifa. She had also been out to get salt for the bar she runs. For some odd reason, he’s not surprised by how big a rack she’s got. Which is weird, since the last time he saw her, she was as flat as a board, but he dismisses that train of thought when she offers to cook some food for him.

“So, SOLDIER?” She asks, her hand resting around the handle of a mug at the bar that she had sometime along the way become in charge of. She eyed his uniform obviously.

He looks down at his clothes. They are dirty from the multiple nights sleeping in the dirt and mud, and there are a couple of tears where a monster had gotten a hit in. “Used to be First Class.” Cloud says, absently fingering the clear marble again, having denied a drink for himself.

Alcohol doesn’t really work on him anymore in the more conventional amounts, and he doesn’t want to empty her stores out if he didn’t have any cash to pay with.

She pushes on. “Used to? Why’d you leave?”

He pushes himself up from his hunched position over the bar to stare at the ceiling. How is he supposed to answer a question like that? In the end, he just says, “Shinra’s Shinra.” and leaves it at that.

It seems to be all that is needed to be said out loud because Tifa hums in agreement and downs the rest of her drink. 

Then she invites him downstairs, and he's not to sure if he should be agreeing so soon after that mug had been emptied. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you think is happening? What do you think is going to happen next? Do you like this so far? What would you like to see happen next?  
> Input from you all really helps!


End file.
